Inaugural Arkansas International Writer-at-Risk Anticipates First Novel

Uchenna Awoke, Nigerian author and inaugural Arkansas International Writer-at-Risk. Photo by Andrew Kilgore.

Nigerian author and inaugural Arkansas International Writer-at-Risk Fellow Uchenna Awoke is less than a month away from his prestigious debut as a novelist. Although the writer has published short stories in various journals, his first book, The Liquid Eye of a Moon, will come out this summer in the U.S. and United Kingdom and is already making a splash.

Awoke was named one of 10 Writers to Watch by Publisher’s Weekly, and the book showed up on Lit Hub’s Most Anticipated Books of 2024 and has received rave advance reviews from Kirkus, Booklist and others.

The Arkansas International Writer-at-Risk Residency Fellowship was conceived by creative writing professor Padma Viswanathan to provide writers under threat in their home nations with space and time to write in Fayetteville. The program was seeded by a 2020 Chancellor’s Grant to the Arts and Humanities.

In 2020, Awoke and his wife were forced from their ancestral lands in southeastern Nigeria, fleeing unmediated ethnic violence. He was awarded a fellowship by the Artist Protection Fund, which accepts applications from artists at risk across disciplines, evaluates their artistic practice and level of risk, and partners with institutions. Awoke was placed in Fayetteville in March 2023.

Here, Awoke has dedicated most of his time to revising his first novel and starting work on a second, getting more done than he could have at home, thanks to the support he has received here.

He says, “At Fayetteville Public Library and the University of Arkansas Library, I find books I only dreamed of back home. I have a mentor who happily provides answers to all my questions, friends who treat me as family. Everything gives me a sense of belonging, makes me believe in myself.”

Awoke has also held readings, taught a fiction-writing workshop at the Fayetteville Public Library and participated on a panel sponsored by the U of A’s Scholar-at-Risk Committee. For the panel, Awoke was joined by Alison Russo, executive director of the Artist Protection Fund, and Salman Al-Shami, Ph.D.

When his fellowship concludes in August, Awoke will move on to Iowa City, where he will join the M.F.A. program in Creative Writing at the University of Iowa.

You can hear Awoke read from his book and purchase a copy locally at these upcoming events:

Friday, June 21, 7 p.m.
The Liquid Eye of a Moon Book Release Celebration and Signing
Pearl’s Books, 28 E. Center St., Fayetteville

Thursday, June 27, 5:30 p.m.
Facts and Fiction in West Africa – A Conversation With Uchenna Awoke
Fayetteville Public Library, 401 W. Mountain St., Fayetteville
Join the Undisciplined Podcast hosts, Dr. Caree Banton and Dr. Karynecia Conner, for an interview with Arkansas International Writer-at-Risk Uchenna Awoke for a discussion of his latest novel, The Liquid Eye of a Moon. This interview will be a live recording for the KUAF podcast Undisciplined.

The Liquid Eye of a Moon is currently available for pre-sale from Catapult in the U.S. and Scribe in the United Kingdom.

This story also appeared in the University of Arkansas News publication.